Changing Horses
by four-nostril
Summary: Kirk and Spock are running from Khan and his men. The hairy little creature in their crew gets angry and leaves them - for Khan!
1. Ch 1 - don't change horses in midstream

**Authors note: If you don't know Lily-Lee, you can picture her as an Australopithecus with a good brain and a four-nostriled sense of chemical analysis. Her species have stationary territorial males and females that migrate in groups. If you need more details, check out "The four-nostriled creature" (M-rated). Now with laugh-provoking art by KalleJ. Review the art, too! (You can do it in the box.)  
**

Chapter 1 - Don't change horses in midstream

Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and Lily-Lee had been chased running from the SS Botany Bay. They came to a slow-flowing, oil-stained river and had to stop. Khan and his gang were after them. Kirk took a look back over his shoulder. Maybe they still had a minute.

"Can we cross this stream?"

"I can't swim, I'm too heavy." said Lily-Lee and put one hairy finger down in the water to estimate the temperature.

"Impossible, your mass is approximately one third to one quarter of any other crewmember."

"Well, I mean I'm too dense." She shot an irritated look at Spock.

"I agree, sometimes you are."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I can spot a sarcastic homophone as well as a human you know, so watch it!"

Kirk saw Khan coming over the hill with his men around him. "There is no time for an argument. Can we cross or not?"

"I agree with the captain. Try not to let your primitive ways interfere."

"PRIMITIVE? I'm just as contemporary as you are! When was the last time YOUR species underwent any major adaptive changes?" Lily-Lee was starting to look really angry and backed away from the group in Khans direction. Kirk tried to catch her by the arm and hold her back. Khan could hear what they said and motioned to his crew to hold back for a moment. "I don't need to take any insults from you. If I don't get the treatment that a lady deserves, I can leave for a new territory at any time."

"Lily-Lee, get back here!"

"Let her go, captain. Her animalistic migratory patterns are surfacing. Very untrustworthy crewmember."

Khan had a pleased grin across his face. "Yes, yes, come closer, little one." He gave some whispered orders to a few of his men and they scurried away to the east. "Welcome to the realm of Khan, lady." Khan took her hand with a gentlemanly gesture and a mocking smile towards Kirk. "Bad captainship, Kirk. Can't keep your crew loyal?" Kirk and Spock got ambushed from both sides and were knocked unconscious.

"You two, take care of the prisoners and make sure they cannot escape. Use the "T"-room, that should be sufficient. And welcome in, my dear. The place is a little worse for wear but I assure you we would never DREAM of treating you with anything but respect. So, a migratory species, are you? What can we do to make you feel at home here and become one of us?"

"Traditionally, this would be the time to mate with the large male. That is, you."

"I see." Khan glanced down at the hairy little creature. "Well, I'm not a person to judge a book by its cover, so..." Lily-Lee gave him her biggest smile that showed all her ape-like canines. Khan winced. "...but I am faithful to my dead wife and have promised never to mate with another."

"My lord, can I? I mean if you're not going to..." Khan grabbed the interrupting man by the shoulder and took him aside. He leaned down and spoke in a sharp whisper.

"Nobody is allowed to get his precious superhuman seed mixed with this pre-human being. Understood? Nobody!" Khan let the man go and came back to Lily-Lee, who was taking off her backpack. It contained some supplies. "It seems that we cannot follow every tradition here, but is there anything else we can do for you?"

"Well, you could let me cook you a meal. I have some fresh food here."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Series of Tubes (end)

Chapter 2 - A Series of Tubes

When Kirk came to his senses, all was dark. He was standing up, stuck in a heavy metal pipe. It was taller than he was, but barely much wider. His arms were hanging down and he could not move them to get his hands up to his face. Even without using his hands he could tell that there was a big lump on his forehead. He tried to shift his position but could only move a centimetre. What sort of tube was this? He tried to move again but now he heard a slight murmur. Was that Spock's voice? He couldn't recognise any words, but surely that was his tone of voice. Kirk let out a quiet whistle. All went silent. He whistled again, and now he heard scratching sounds from above, and felt something move. The pale light from above was obscured by a hairy face.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" Lily-Lee was looking down at him and tried to sit on the narrow rim.

"Lily-Lee, please help us get out. You can't stay with Khan, he is a dangerous madman." Kirk had to convince her, and maybe this would be his only chance. Had Khan been conceited enough to put her to guard the prisoners? It was possible, he was the type of man that would welcome a traitor with open arms.

"Why would I stay with Khan? Here, try to get this past your gut and down to your hands. It won't be easy." She lowered a piece of cable down the tube. "Spock has a rope already. He figured you would be tied up or locked in, not THIS."

"Spock figured...?" Kirk let out as much air as he could to get the cable to slide down. "I thought you migrated to Khan's territory?"

"A broken-down sleeper ship in the middle of nowhere with dwindling supplies? That would be a new I don't want. Do you have a grip yet?"

"No, pull it back up and try again more to the left. Better. Okay, I've got it. Are you going to pull us up?" Kirk was relieved to hear that she was still on the team. No captain wants to see crewmembers turn into defectors.

"I can only lift about fifteen kilograms and there are no blocks and pulleys here. No, I'm going to knock the tubes over. Hold on to the cable." Kirk could hear her climb down to the floor and then he felt her tug on the cable. The tube was too heavy and didn't even sway. Spock's murmur was heard again, Kirk still couldn't hear much. Neither Lily-Lee apparently because she had to climb back up Spock's pipe to listen. The next thing Kirk heard was hammering noises and then he saw faint beams of light from below. She had hammered in a wedge under the pipe. Now he heard shuffling of boxes and furniture. It took some time. After a while Lily-Lee came back and looked down on him again.

"Okay, I have some stuff to break your fall, and the tubes are leaning a bit. I'll just catch my breath and then I'll try to pull them down. You need to be ready to crawl out fast, because they will make a great noise and the men can't help but hear you."

"I actually thought you had defected. Don't scare me like that."

"I'm glad I was convincing. Khan was convinced, too. But he has that type of ego that he probably believes himself to be a great catch."

"Well, he is a very striking figure."

"Is THAT your type? I'll never understand what humans find attractive."

"MY type? No, look here, that's not what I meant!"

"Not so loud, they might hear you. I have done my best to keep them busy but they can still get us. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." Kirk tightened his grip around the cable. Lily-Lee climbed over to the next tube and Kirk could hear Spock murmur something short. She came back again.

"Spock says we should wait a few more minutes."

"Was the whole argument with Spock a part of your plan?"

"It's not MY plan, it's all Spock's smart thinking. He communicated it to me down by the river but I didn't understand how. Still don't."

"He is a telepath. He can put his thoughts in your head."

"Is THAT what telepath means? It was spooky." Spock murmured something from his tube and Lily-Lee nodded. "Okay, here we go. Time to tip you over and pour you out." Lily-Lee jumped down to the floor, took the cables and pulled as hard as she could. The metal tubes leaned more and more and came crashing down on a pile of wood and cardboard. She kept pulling and the two Starfleet officers came out of the improvised prisons. As soon as they got on their feet they all ran for the door, picking up a piece of metal debris each for defence. Nobody stopped them. Lily-Lee handed Spock his communicator and they ran outside. Still nobody followed, but they heard screams and shouts.

"What did you do to keep them busy?" Kirk asked while Spock signalled the Enterprise.

"I gave them food poisoning. Messy but effective."

–***–

**THE END**


End file.
